Here are the books that make an impression on me staring at this week's no-doubt largely accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.

I might not buy all of the works listed here. I might not buy any. You never know. I'd sure look at the following, though.

*****

MAY121128 LOST ART OF AH POOK HERE HC IMAGES FROM THE GN (MR) $39.99JUL121075 YOULL NEVER KNOW HC VOL 03 SOLDIERS HEART $24.99
As much grief as my former employers sometimes get for things that it's perceived they don't do as well as publisher A, B or C, this week throws a spotlight on two of their great virtues through two top-of-post worthy works: providing a home for archival work of great interest, facilitating later-in-career work from masterful cartoonists of the underground and early-alternative generations. Good on them. Buy both books.

AUG120463 MULTIPLE WARHEADS ALPHABET TO INFINITY #1 (MR) [DIG] $3.99AUG128081 MULTIPLE WARHEADS ALPHABET TO INFINITY #1 SHARED EXC $3.99AUG120525 PROPHET #30 [DIG] $3.99
Comic-book comics is all about Brandon Graham this week. Note how Graham has benefited to a certain extent from something that happens with serial comics that doesn't really happy with giant book releases: the repeated exposure to his work has not only kept his name out in front of a certain kind of comics fan it's allowed people to try him out and to maybe better understand how to read his comics.

AUG120046 DARK HORSE PRESENTS #17 $7.99
At some point, you publish enough comics that it suddenly seems like it's 6-12 issues ahead of where folks think it might be and those readers go, "Wow, that's a lot of comics with that title." Wow, that's a lot of comics with that title.

JUL120024 SHAOLIN COWBOY ADVENTURE MAGAZINE TP $15.99
This is the kind of thing I can tell you without looking Jog wrote something about that will shame whatever I might say about it. This is illustrated prose, not comics, but the illustrator was Geof Darrow, so I'd be staring at it were I in a comics shop today. Actually, I may be in a comics shop today.

AUG120224 ALL STAR WESTERN #13 $3.99
I would have lost a bet here. Good for DC.

AUG120390 ALAN ROBERT KILLOGY #1 [DIG/D+] $3.99
I might have made some bet money back here, as back in the 1990s I was convinced that comics using the likenesses of celebrities would start coming out. I probably would have lost on the timing of such a bet, but this comic is cast with actors I've barely heard of but sort of recognize, which is exactly what I thought would happen.

AUG120573 AVX CONSEQUENCES #3 $3.99
Comics with words in the title that would have baffled me at six years old, words that don't really sound like the kinds of words that might sell a comic book to comic book fans, make me laugh. Although granted, I'm sure this sells just fine.

AUG120938 ADVENTURE TIME #9 [DIG] $3.99
Hey, it's another one of these comics, separated from the other serial comics this week because of the lack of an easy joke. I have yet to catch up with these books as comics, but it's clear from the attention they received and the editions they generate that there are at least some sales being made here.

AUG120707 MARVEL TALES BY ALAN DAVIS TP $16.99
This should be pretty. There aren't a lot of comic-book illustrators that drive interest to books all by themselves right now, but Alan Davis would qualify into whatever remains of that class.

JUL120722 DILBERT I CANT REMEMBER IF WERE CHEAP OR SMART TP $16.99JUL120715 MUTTS BONK SC $19.99
Two solid efforts of the comics-collection variety, lest we forget what was keeping comics alive in bookstores all of those years before Marjane Satrapi and everyone else started showing up.

AUG121145 RALPH AZHAM HC VOL 01 WHY LIE SOMEONE LOVE $14.99
Lewis Trondheim is a wonderful, prolific and very mainstream-oriented cartoonist -- by the last I mean he has books in print that I can give to just about anybody on my Christmas shopping list, with everyone getting a different book. I liked this one quite a bit on the first read; the writing seemed way more measured than a lot of fantasies in comics form usually seem to me.

SEP121264 WILL EISNERS COMICS & SEQUENTIAL ART SC REVISED ED $22.95
I can't tell you how impressed I am that Will Eisner has a revised edition out this week. That guy outworks everyone.

JUL121367 MAD GREATEST ARTISTS MORT DRUCKER HC $30.00JUL121202 ART OF JUDGE DREDD 35 YEARS ZARJAZ CVRS HC $68.00
Two art books of potential interest, both of which would have to be seen in a comics shop before ordering. At least I think they'd have to be. Unless you're totally rich or obsessive or obsessive-rich.

*****

The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics, can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry so your shop may not carry a specific publication. There are a lot of comics out there.

To find your local comic book store, check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, albeit a while back, try this.

The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock. Ordering through a direct market shop can be a frustrating experience, so if you have a direct line to something -- you know another shop has it, you know a bookstore has it -- I'd urge you to consider all of your options.